Update from Talanga

hi everyone this is Ellen. It is Sunday afternoon after lunch. We went to church this morning at a small church in a gentleman's back yard. 25 of us, yes 25 of us got in a mini van to go to church and back. No policia to stop us down here!! It was, of course, all in spanish, so it was a bit difficult to stay focused, but it is always great to worship with others no matter what the langauge is. Everyone is very welcoming to us at the Project and at the church. We are a bit of a novelty in town, so we don't go to town by ourselves. Right now, the 5 of us are all at the Internet Cafe and one of the older boys at the Project, Ricardo, walked to town with us. About a 15 minute walk.
Everything is going fine and we are all healthy. It is so difficult to even explain where we are living and what we do everyday. So far during the day I have done everything from sew little girl dresses to laundry to cooking to playing with kids to fixing the swingset. Our days begin VERY early and I have school with the 3 Miller kids from 7 to 9 on the porch of the dormitory. Most of the kids re at school in town during that time so we can sort of concentrate. Each day is different depending on what needs to be done and who needs help etc.
The kids are just as cute, fun, and naughty as I remember them being from previous trips. There are 18 at the Project in Talanga and they range from 5 to 18 years. Most are under 12 tho. OK I am going to hand off to someone else to write for awhile. They are all looking over my shoulder. One more thing before I go. Our 3 kids have been doing great. They are interacting well with the Manuelito kids, are learning Spanish quickly and generally being terrific sports about all of this. Charlie and I doubt that we would have done as well at their ages with all of this. Thanks for the prayers. We can feel them even way down here!!

Charles here...random thoughts

. cow poop
. chicken poop
. roosters and dogs from midnight to the morning
. bad smells.
. good food
. good health
. talanga..picture an old west movie with clint eastwood in old mexico...that is talanga today!
. today we will move from sharing a house and bathroom and with clarita and luiz and will have a room and bathroom to ourselves.


yo it's alex...
the spanish here is way different than at school, but still....I am doing alright as translator for my family... It's hot here...we are sunburnt...I turned off the light last night to go to sleep and ten seconds later I had a spider on my face...but hey. we are having fun! We all love the kids and they seem to like us pretty well too. Adios amigos!

hi its Chase now everything is good here... its really hot but fun. I macheted grass the other day it was hard. I miss you guys a lot but hey see you in a few weeks. Learning spanish is pretty hard but we all learn fast. The kids are really fun... sometimes misbehave but still are good. Some punishments down here are digging stumps and shoveling cow poop fun huh. i will write next
week


nate here.
well.
really warm here.
im roasted and sunburnt like no other.
have played alot of soccer so far in the trip.
walk moslty everywhere here.
well.
be on next week.